By now many of you have taken a good look around this website and seen how much it has to offer, from blogs to video to a lively discussion forum. Miles Beckett, Greg Goodfried and the team at EQAL have done an excellent job of realizing my vision for the site. In this week’s guest blog, Miles talks about the creation of Level26.com, and some of his company’s other projects – including a little web phenomenon called lonelygirl15 that you may have heard about…
Anthony E. Zuiker
From the Novel to the Net: Creating Level 26.com by Miles Beckett
Almost three years ago to the day, the world learned a shocking secret: lonelygirl15, the most popular video blogger on YouTube, wasn’t real. Instead, she was the main character in a fictional story created by me and a few friends in Los Angeles. We had conceived of lonelygirl15 as our shot at being “discovered” and breaking into the entertainment business, but we never expected the level of attention we received. The following weeks and months were surreal, unlike anything I have, or probably ever will, experience. We met the heads of Hollywood studios, famous actors and writers, Silicon Valley luminaries, and flew around the world speaking at conferences.
In March we were invited to speak on a panel at SXSW, the music-turned-tech conference in Austin, Texas. Needless to say, we were thrilled about the opportunity and eagerly traveled to Austin for the event. It was the first chance we had to relax in awhile, and before heading out on the town, Greg and I drank beers in the hotel and channel surfed. We stumbled across a behind-the-scenes look at the CSI franchise hosted by its creator, Anthony E. Zuiker. Anthony was so energetic and enthusiastic; literally bouncing around the room describing the cool gizmos they used on the set. Anthony talked about the internet and some of the things they were doing to transform CSI into a cross-platform experience. Greg and I were blown away by Anthony’s creativity and intelligence. We looked at each other and said, “I don’t know how, but one day we need to work with that guy!”
Incredibly, a year later we were introduced to Anthony by our friends at CBS. We talked to him about creating a cross-platform extension of CSI, but for a variety of reasons that never came to be. Regardless, we hit it off with Anthony, and one day he called us for advice about a new project he was working on. He called it a “digi-novel” and told us he had signed a deal with Dutton to publish a series of horrific crime novels that would blend text with videos and interactivity. He was looking for a company to partner with and wanted our advice about who he should go with. We spent the next couple hours trashing the competition giving him objective advice, and at the end of the conversation it became apparent to all of us that we needed to work together and truly turn publishing on its head.
Anthony is one of those rare individuals who has achieved a huge amount of success in the traditional media world, but has managed to remain both humble and excited to forge into uncharted territory. And Level 26 is definitely uncharted territory! First, Anthony had to write a book that could stand on its own. Then, he had to write, direct, and produce cinematic quality cyberbridges. Finally, he had to create an engaging online community around the brand. We’ve spent the past six months or so working with Anthony to design and develop the interactive experience, and we’re thrilled with the response!
Our company, EQAL, has always been focused on working with incredibly talented people and helping them build entertainment brands online. We’ve produced some of the biggest hits on the internet, including lonelygirl15, KateModern, and Harper’s Globe, the companion to the CBS TV show Harper’s Island. In addition to working with Anthony on Level 26, we’re producing a community cooking show with Paula Deen and working with Alicia Silverstone on a community for her upcoming book, “The Kind Diet.” We’ve always felt that the creative of a show is intimately connected to the underlying technology, and we recently announced Umbrella, a social publishing application that will enable everyone to tap into the same tools we’ve used to promote our shows and build our communities. There are a bunch of Umbrella sites live already, and if you’re interested in being considered for the private beta you can sign up HERE. We’ll be coming out of beta in the very near future, so write your scripts, fire up your mini-DV cams, and practice your lines. The next lonelygirl15 is out there somewhere!
